JonBenet Ramsey

The life and death of this young girl caused the world of beauty pageants to change.

JonBenet Patricia Ramsey was murdered on Christmas Day in 1996 when she was just 6 years old. She was a beauty pageant queen and this tragedy received extensive media attention.

Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her parents’ house in Colorado by her mother after she had gone missing for 8 hours. this case is famous because of all of the media attention is received as well as the fact that this case still isn’t solved. Although her brother and both of her parents were suspects, there were cleared when DNA samples didn’t match.

Her parents’ attitude towards her participation in pageants was closely examined and greatly criticized. Some accused Ramsey’s mother Patsy of forcing her daughter to follow in her own footsteps (she was a former Miss West Virginia). They would sing their favorite song together from “Gypsy,” a musical and movie about a mother obsessed with making her daughter a star.

Many people also thought that Ramsey was sexually abused and murdered by dressing as older girls and singing songs that were sexually suggestive.

The question soon became “Was she killed because she was a beauty pageant queen?” instead of “Who killed her?”

Ramsey is the one who made beauty pageants famous; she was the first scandal of many to come. Was it because the first scandal was a bad and negative one that the others would have to share the same fate?

Here is a USA Today article that briefly talks about Ramsey as a pageant Queen.

Perhaps her death was not a total waste. Look at all the money that was made writing books and making movies about the murder. The entire family was put under the magnifying glass, and though devout Christians, were examined about their faith vs. modern medicine.

Barring time zones-was it Christmas or Boxing Day-enough evidence abounded to make any and everyone a suspect if they did indeed turn out to be the “perfect family.”